I don’t think it’s strange at all. For most people the more you know war the more you hate it. The glorious side of view can only exist in ignorance of the goriest side of war. I love military history and I’ve read about it from every aspect and every bit only confirms that war is tragic for everyone.
Count me in.
I’ve been blowing stuff up since I was a kid and have collected various books on war and weaponry - my favorite rpgs was Twilight 2000 and Dark Conspiracy.
Yet when I had my pick of branches to serve my national service in, I picked the weaponless Civil Defense where my rpg buddies picked the big guns (artillery and navy).
I’m interested in military history and hardware to some extent… nowhere near as much as some people, but I like reading up on Thermopylae and Gettysburg and whatnot, and the millennia-long “conversation” of military tactics/technology as it evolves, is a pretty fascinating case of applied human ingenuity.
Yet I have very little physical courage and the idea of being anywhere near a combat zone is utterly terrifying to me. I guess it’s just a case of certain subject matter being approachable as long as there’s sufficient distance.
I wouldn’t say I “hate” war exactly. I certainly fear it and am bewildered by it. Sometimes I think it’s madness, sometimes I think it’s a function of the way humans are wired and the way tribal society evolves and the game-theory implications of separate groups jousting for an edge, etc. Not that those are necessarily mutually exclusive. War, though a manmade phenomenon, still seems larger than any one of us – hating it, to me, would almost be like hating hurricanes. You can hate all you want, but it’s not necessarily going to accomplish much. Maybe that’s pessimistic, though.
To clarify, there is a huge difference between being scared/being a coward/unwilling to fight and hating war in general and waging war and the death and misery that results. A huge difference, FYI.
Love wargames, love war history, love war movies, love tactical FPS’s.
Hate war, hate guns, can’t kill an insect.
Fuck even trying to kill an insect. It might get on you or something. Gross!
That is why you nuke the entire site from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure to kill that house spider.
I want to know where they keep the Fire-throwers. I only want to “Borrow” one for a few hours or so.
Another topic as well where I usually see everyone discussing in it one upping the next guy to point out how much he isn’t some nutjob killer wannabe. I think it is a reaction to the 1980s/1990s, when wargaming and similar hobbies did seem to get a bit out of hand with the Nazi symbols, visions of cool units crushing the soft democracies of the West, etc. Freaks used to show up at conventions dressed in SS costumes for heaven’s sake.
Now, I think a lot of people realized just how wierd that was, and there is a bit of a counter reaction, with everyone who likes to play games needing to assert that they’re really not one of those people, and they really get that war is bad.
It’s interesting to watch these trends over time.
How can war be bad when the dude on Future Weapons is blasting a building with a gun and the thing literally fucking disintegrates? That’s MAN TV at it’s best!
Face it, didn’t we all play with fireworks even though the folks warned us not to? I know I used to blow crap up all the time.
I love to shoot guns, and people. But I hate it when they get hurt.
I have a simialr thing with shows about prison and criminals. They are so alien to me I can’t fathom being in a place, mentally, where these men and women are…both sides jail cell.
It’s got to do with the fascination of The Other (veering off in Kootnztown) and finding some sort of self definition in what we are not.
I think it’s in the Male nature to be fascinated by demonstrations of power. It’s pretty cool to watch all this gadgets, but not so cool to actually witness what they can do on a live human in person. So the thought of having the power to blow someone up and actually having the guts to unload, fully understanding it’s capability, is a different story.
Then comes the part afterward of “Oh Crap! That really did blow that guy up! It worked”. And one look at the remains might then trigger some guilt because you’re the one that did it.
Who says Women are the only complicated sex?
That reminds me of the time when I was a kid and I saw this ginormous wolf spider* in my mom’s house. It was like 7 feet across. I was so scared I wouldn’t even use bug spray.
No sir, I had to get an air gun out of the garage. I then put about 20 holes in the ceiling before I tagged that fucker’s leg, at which point he fell down and started running towards me** and I ran screaming like a little girl.
Good times.
- Not sure if it was an actual wolf spider, but when you’re like 10 you just call it whatever the other kids call 'em. Like roli-polies.
** Fairly certain it was random and not looking for specific vengeance
You make it sound like a weakness to not be willing to kill someone.
Well, let’s be fair, are we talking about killing drifters, or real people?
Bugs are absofrickenlutely the ultimate enemy. I’d rather get stabbed again than touch one!
My girlfriend and I spent the week in a place with a bug problem, and we were both terrified when it got late and bugs started coming out. We patrolled the house with a shop vac, throwing the hose and praying it would suck them in, alternated night shifts… it was awful.
I’m a girl and I like war history stuff, particularly the civil war, and WWII. I’m not a fighting person, I do find the battles and stuff fascinating though.
War is in our genes. We have evolved to fight to survive. Get to the top of the food chain.
Civilization is the moderation of that instinct. Games move fighting from reality to simulations. Allow us to sate our needs without killing people because of the emergent behaviour of empathy coming from simulation required to make a game.
Think the Olympics.
Evil people are those who subvert empathy by engaging in tribalism. Us vs Them.
So one night I was sleeping, right? And I woke up randomly around 5AM. I sat up and steadied myself to go take a piss. I absent-mindedly wiped my face and I scored this awesome booger that was hanging low out of my right nostril. I pondered the wayward snag for a sec and turned on the light to dig it (you know, to see if it was bloody or anything).
It was a fucking wolf spider. I had crushed it just as it was preparing to go on a spelunking expedition into my schnozz. I almost fucking passed out. I barely slept for the next week. Like, how do I sleep and keep my face protected from fucking inquisitive spiders yet still breathe? Almost impossible without using some kind of retarded apparatus.